Harrisburg office tower still in planning stages

Pictured is a rendering of an office tower (middle building) that Harristown plans to build in Harrisburg. Rendering provided.

Construction on a new six-story building that will be built where the former Coronet Restaurant once stood in Harrisburg will most likely happen in the middle of next year.

Bradley Jones, president and CEO of Harristown Development, which purchased the property at 21 S. Second St. as Second Street Associates LLC, says it is still designing the building and looking for an anchor tenant. The project was approved for land development last year.

The building, which was situated between the Crown Plaza hotel and a building at 17 S. Second St. in Harrisburg which is home to tenants that include a law firm, was demolished over the winter.

Harristown would like to attract one main tenant for the building it will construct at 21 S. Second St. and is planning a space for retail or a restaurant for the first floor of the building, Jones said.

In recent years, Harristown, which owns Strawberry Square and a number of properties in downtown Harrisburg, has developed a number of residential spaces and is considering adding some residential space in the new building.

There is an agreement with the owner of the building at 17 S. Second St. for Harristown to eventually purchase the building. Harristown once owned and renovated the building, then sold it in 1987. Originally the plan was to connect the two buildings but, that may not happen, Jones said. That building has about 30,000 square feet and has several tenants. Harristown expects to renovate the 17 S. Second St. building and plans to provide space for retail or a restaurant on the first floor of that building as well.

It was announced this week that Second Street Associates LLC was approved for a $1 million grant for the rehabilitation project. The funding comes from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. Jones says that Harristown is the sole owner of 21 S. Second St., but he said the organization could pick up an investor or two for the project.

History

The Coronet Restaurant at 21 S. Second St. closed in 1994 after a fire. (J.S. Zeedick, Allied Pix for The Patriot-News)File.

The building that once stood at 21 S. Second St. was originally built by Stephen Hills as the location for Harrisburg Bank, which opened Oct. 2, 1814. Historical Society of Dauphin County librarian Ken Frew told PennLive last year that the bank later became a law office, then a hardware store and then a boarding house, and was sold to a printer and bookseller in 1863.

Over the years after that, the building housed shops, restaurants and offices, including the Coronet Restaurant, which opened in 1968 and later a jazz venue, Lounge 21, according to Frew.

The former Coronet Restaurant closed after a fire back in 1994. Jones told PennLive last year that the building was in in such disrepair--from water damage, in particular--that it could not be salvaged. The building remained vacant ever since, and demolition of the building was completed in February.

The building at 17-19 S. Second St. was built in 1906 and has been the headquarters of a wholesale paper supply company, a business college, trading stamp redemption store, an office furniture dealer and state and county offices. The building was once known as the Johnston Building and later as the Mortimer H. Menaker Building. The law firm of Skarlatos & Zonarich LLP relocated to the building in August 2004. In 1912, two floors were added to the Johnston Building which originally had four floors.